


Broken Promise

by deanandsam



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Disappointed Boys, Gen, Insensitive John Winchester, Weechesters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 04:03:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6838321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deanandsam/pseuds/deanandsam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John comes back from a hunt to find his kids eager, ready and packed, but he's forgotten what he'd promised them. Dean is nine, Sam five.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

John was in an exceptionally good mood.  
Last night he'd returned from a successful hunt, had managed to get a sound night's sleep and his sons had both been strangely accommodating and cheerful when he'd woken this morning.

Usually Dean would be torn between being glad to see him safely back and annoyed because of the extra days he'd been away, but his son had never seemed happier.  
Even Sam who never gave him as enthusiastic a welcome as Dean, ever preferring to stand behind his brother as if in some away unsure of his dad, regarded him with a softer expression in his wide-set eyes.

John hated to admit it but five year old Sam sometimes made him feel uncomfortable, especially when he caught the child's eyes on him. They seemed to bore right through his body as if looking into his very soul.  
He shook off the ridiculous feeling.  
Sam was a cute kid, nothing more he assured himself though the niggling notion didn't go away, it just fell into the back of his mind where he stored away snippets of lore for future reference.  
He chided himself for somehow thinking of his son as a potential danger and turned his attention to Dean.

 

"We're all ready and packed up, Dad," Dean was saying enthusiastically, a toothy smile plastered on his nine-year old face. "Here, I got you coffee from the diner next door," he added holding out the cup for John to take.  
"Thanks, son," John acknowledged.

Dean was a good kid, bright, focused, obedient and loyal. He'd make a first-rate hunter when he was older. He already knew a great deal about the life and seemed to have taken 'the family business' in his stride.  
Tasked with he job of looking after Sam, he'd done a damn good job of it, protecting the child against all predators, whether human or supernatural.

He glanced at his younger boy.  
Sam was only five but he'd already proven to be as stubborn as the proverbial mule especially where John was concerned. The only one the kid really listened to was Dean.  
John realised it wasn't right to foist all the responsibility for raising Sam on Dean's shoulders but until he'd gotten vengeance for Mary's death, not even the welfare of his sons would stop him in his quest.

 

"So, has everything been okay while I've been gone?" he asked calmly.  
"Yeah, no problems, dad," Dean nodded, although he averted his eyes slightly, a sign of him not being one hundred percent truthful.

"We just ran out of Lucky Charms, 'cos Dean had no more money, " Sam's childish voice piped up, causing Dean to glance back at his little brother in warning.  
"Shut up Sammy! Dad's back now and you can eat as much as you want," he scolded.

Sam hid himself even more behind his big brother's back at the reprimand and Dean could feel his small hands fisting the back of his shirt.  
The ten-year old sighed. He felt like a buffer between his dad and his little brother, loving them both, but eternally torn between defending one from the other. 

However, as in everything else Dean was a quick learner and had honed the ability of peacemaker too.

"We were fine, dad," he insisted. "Sam sometimes gets things mixed up. Anyway, we're ready to go."

 

That was the second time Dean had referred to going but John was quite happy to hang around here another day or two. He needed a break even if the hunt had been a simple one, leaving him with a few scratches which he'd easily taken care of himself.  
"Why all the rush, Dean?" he asked as he sipped the hot coffee. "We can stay a couple of days until I have to go off to see another 'client'.

He saw Dean's face fall and heard Sam's whispered. "See, I told you Deanie."  
"But Dad," Dean prompted almost pleadingly. "Don't you remember what you told me before you went off last week?"

John thought back to when he'd left.  
He remembered Dean hadn't been in the best of moods that morning, openly hostile, not wanting him to leave as Sammy had been in the throes of a fever; asking him to wait another day or so until his little brother felt better, but John had left anyway with the excuse that it was very important to stop anyone else getting hurt and that he knew Dean would tend to Sam far better than he ever could.

Dean had glared at him with a strange unforgiving expression in his eyes, a look that had made John feel uncomfortable.  
He was used to adoration from his elder son, and he'd blurted out the first thing that had come into his head to try and sooth Dean's ruffled feathers. 

Lying came second nature to John now and he wasn't above manipulating his kids when need be.  
"When I get back, we'll go on a trip to the Grand Canyon. We'll be a normal family for a couple of days, no hunts, no monsters and no training, just you, me, Sam and lots of ice cream.”  
So that was what this was all about. The expectant expressions on his kids' faces were because of that.

John sighed.  
He was short on cash, he'd been forced to spend more than he'd expected bribing a guy on the hunt. A trip to the Grand Canyon right now was out of the question. He'd have to hustle some pool the next couple of days. False credit cards couldn't cover certain expenses.

He glanced at Dean and saw bitter understanding appear on the boy's face. There would be no Grand Canyon, not now, and perhaps not ever.

Dean's eyes turned hard before he averted them and grasped Sammy's hand.  
"Come on Sam, Let's go outside. It's a lovely day. We can go to the park round the corner. You know how you love the swings."  
"But Dean, aren't we going to the...?"  
"No, Sam we're not. Not today."

He pulled his protesting sibling out the door without a backward glance.  


John felt like the worst of fathers, and yet there was a part of him that was strangely satisfied. 

His sons would have to learn that life was a bitch and if they wanted to stay alive, a white lie now and then was necessary, even if it meant losing something in the process.  
He made his way to the bathroom, his mind already occupied with other thoughts, the Grand Canyon completely forgotten.  
tbc


	2. Chapter 2

The two boys made their way towards the nearby park which had somehow miraculously survived untouched in the rundown area where John had taken up temporary residence.  
Dean was still upset like he always was when there was bad blood between him and his Dad. As he grew and matured, the less he seemed to agree wholeheartedly with John's parenting, but the few sporadic clashes were usually over Sam.

He held on tight to his little brother's hand though he knew Sammy now considered it babyish from the height of his five-years of age, but Dean needed the contact, needed to feel 'family'. He knew John loved them in his own way and did his best to protect them from what was out there, but his father wasn't given to covering his children's emotional needs.  
It fell to each of the brothers to provide that for the other.

Strangely enough, this time Sam didn't complain or try to pull his hand away. The little boy was so attuned to his big brother's moods that he understood Dean took comfort from hanging onto him.  


 

"You okay, Deanie?" he asked in a dubious voice, glancing up at his sibling's face. He could see the anger and disappointment still present there.  
"I'm fine, Sammy," his brother lied.  
"Dad just forgot he'd promised to take us to the Grand Canyon, that's all. He's a busy man," Dean added trying to banish his distress, as much for himself as for Sam.

"How often do you forget things, eh, mop-head?" he teased smiling down at his little brother and mussing his hair. "We can see the Grand Canyon another time. Maybe we can go together when we're all grown up. Would you like that? "  
That was his job, looking after Sam, keeping him happy and safe, and he always performed it to the best of his ability, even when he was pissed with his dad.  
Sam looked up at him, his wide eyes full of trust for his big brother. "Just you and me, without dad. That would be great Dean, but we'd need a car and lots of money," he finished doubtfully.

 

By this time they'd reached the park and they plonked themselves down side by side on a paint-scraped bench, dangling their legs back and forth.  
"Dad's been teaching me to drive the Impala and lots of other... 'stuff ', so you and me'll be able to go anywhere and do anything," Dean assured his little brother, a note of pride in his voice.  
"Do you think Dad'll let us?" Sam asked dubiously.  
"Sure he will, and where I go you come too, Sammy."

The little boy smiled brightly up at his brother with the infant version of the sun-filled one he'd flash as an adult, causing Dean's anger with his father to melt like snow under the sun's rays.  
His heart brimmed over with love for his baby brother. He shuddered to think what his life would be like without him.

A part of him hero-worshiped his dad.  
When John had explained to him about his mom and why they were living as they were, then starting to train him to face the monsters that were out there, Dean hadn't been afraid.  
He was happy to learn all he could. He had Sammy to take care of and defend, and knowing about guns and knives and how to use them, would help him to do that. No monster was going to take his little brother away from him.  
When John was away on a job, it was his duty to protect Sam.

 

"I knew he wouldn't 'member," Sammy's voice chirped in, interrupting his thoughts.  
"I told you so. Dad forgets lots of things. Sometimes he forgets to leave you enough money. That's not fair, Dean. I know you sometimes don't want to eat stuff just to leave me more. I'm a big boy now. You can't fool me any more!"

Dean was aghast that Sam had noticed. He'd tried to gloss over things like that with one excuse or another but Sam was right. Sometimes he did go hungry, but his instinct to defend his father was still strong.  
"That's not true Sam," he retorted. "Dad tries his best to give us everything but his job doesn't pay much money."  
"Just what does Dad do?" Sam asked innocently.  
"He's a rep for a weapons' firm." Dean lied.  
"Is that why he keeps so many guns in the trunk?" Sam asked, swinging his short legs even harder.

Dean was taken aback, Dad was always careful to close the Impala's trunk when Sam was around.  
"Just how do you know if he has guns in the car?"  
Sam shrugged. "I saw them once when Dad left it open. Not just guns but a whole lot of other stuff as well, even a bow thing. Does he sell all that stuff too?"  
"Yeah, yeah, he does," Dean answered, continuing his series of lies.

 

One day when Sam was older, he knew his little brother would have to take those weapons in his hands too and be trained to use them just as John was training him.  
One day Sammy would have to find out the nightmares he sometimes had of monsters hiding under the bed or in the cupboards were true, although he hoped that day was still far off.  
One terrible day, his little brother would come through the door hurt and wounded.  
Dean tried to shake the image from his mind. It was bad enough when Sammy was laid up with a childish fever, how hard would it be to see him bleeding out.

"Dean what is it?" Sam asked worriedly, sensing his big brother's dark mood. "Are you mad with me?"  
Dean ruffled his messy chestnut hair. " No, Sammy. I could never be mad with you. Well sometimes you piss me off but that's what little brothers do. Come on, get on the swing and I'll push you right up until you touch the stars."

Sam jumped down giggling and ran to the swings. Dean followed, his anger with his father temporarily forgotten.  
The future was a long way away and today it was just him, Sammy and a swing. One day though, he WOULD take his little brother to the Grand Canyon, just the two of them together.  
tbc


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some years later in the earlier seasons.

Dean couldn't believe his eyes as he scanned the half-hidden article on one of the inside pages of the newspaper.

He and Sam had been hanging out in this boring town for two weeks now with nary a hunt in sight and he was bored out of his skull.  
These past days he'd hustled so much pool that his hands were beginning to ache from holding the stick, while the callouses on his fingers had grown callouses of their own.

For his part, Sam had spent most of the time hunched over his 'one true love', his lap-top, looking for anything resembling a hunt, but it seemed as if the world of monsters had decided to take a summer break.  
In his heart, Dean could only be glad about that, 'cos no monsters meant there were no victims to mourn, but he was a hunter and without the thrill of the chase, he felt like an addict without his dose, though what he'd just read in dog-eared paper left behind on one of the pool tables changed everything, and with a grin on his face he hurried back to the motel.

 

"Pack your stuff, Sammy. We've got a hunt!" he announced buoyantly as he pushed open the door to the sight of his brother in his usual place, oozing computer love.  
"A hunt?" Sam replied sceptically, turning away from the screen. "I haven't had a whiff of anything. Where did you find the info?"

"Yeah a hunt, Sammy," Dean smirked, thrilled to have gotten one over on his researching sibling. "And I didn't have to do an impression of the Hunchback of Notre Dame to find it! Let's go little brother. I'll be glad if I don't see another pool table for a year!"

"Well! Aren't you gonna fill me in on what you've found?" Sam asked, his curiosity kicking in, though Dean could see he was pissed that after all his research, it was Dean who had come up trumps.

"Aw, Sammy, don't be like that. You're not going to bitch if your big brother's outdone you this time."  
"Absolutely not," Sam replied prissily. "We're a team. It makes no difference who finds what."  
Riiiiight! Dean thought silently to himself!

"I'll clue you in when we're in the Impala, " he smirked enigmatically, and Sam huffed, wondering just why Dean was so euphoric.

 

"A banshee?" Sam repeated while Dean navigated the morning traffic, heading the Impala away from the bustling little city. "We've never come up against one before."  
"Well, here's our big chance to add another notch to our guns Sammy, but that isn't the big news. Guess where she's hanging out, wailing and screaming before she frightens her victims to death."

Sam scrunched up his nose in seeming disgust before answering.  
"Dean are you four or what! Are we into guessing games now?"  
"Aw, come on Sam, collaborate. Three goes. If you guess right, I'll pay for your girly frothy vanilla latte for a month."

Sam shook his head trying for serious, but his brother's fun-filled eyes and ear to ear smile were too much for him and he burst out laughing.  
"Dean, you are such an idiot sometimes," he grinned helplessly.  
"Come on, Sammy. You wouldn't want me any other way now, would you? So, dude. Guess!"

“Um. The White House? Maybe a presidential hunt. They always say the place is full of ghosts."  
"Nowhere near, Sammy!"

"Uh, okay then. Las Vegas? Maybe a stripper turned banshee?"  
"Huh, I'd definitely go for that Sam. Good guess, but no!"

Right, Sam thought to himself, drawn in by the game now. He'd take this last chance seriously and give his guess due thought.

Banshees? They were usually found in an outdoor environment, more space for them to fly around and frighten people to death. Clue in Dean being in such a rush about the hunt which meant that it must be somewhere he was happy to go to.  
A thought popped into his mind of the town where the Croatoan virus had appeared for the first time. Dean had refused to leave him when he feared Sam had been infected, ready and willing to die with his little brother.

Dean's words came back to mind. "You know, all this driving back and forth across country, yet I've never been to the Grand Canyon."  
"The Grand Canyon," Sam blurted out on instinct.

"Dude," Dean commented awed. "How did you guess? "

"Dunno! It just came into my head. Maybe all the time we spend in each other's company have made us telepathic too, though most of the things that go through your mind I'd never want to be witness to," the younger man said, satisfied to have surprised Dean and won his month of free coffee!

" I remembered you saying you'd never been, and it just sort of came to me, even if I'm sure there was something else about the Grand Canyon that I can't quite place," Sam added, scrunching up his forehead in concentration. "A memory that's flitting around just outside my reach."

 

The good humour which had permeated Dean suddenly deflated, the memory Sam was searching for was perfectly clear in his mind.  
Years ago when they were kids, they'd waited excitedly for their father to return from a hunt.  
John had promised to take them to the Grand Canyon for a family outing with more ice-cream than they could eat, but he'd welched on that promise as he'd done on many others.

Dean remembered the anger mixed to disappointment he'd felt towards his father that day.  
He'd taken five year old Sammy's hand, trailing him to the park. He recalled sitting on the park-bench beside his little brother and how his heart had been heavy for the life the unsuspecting little kid would be forced into, but Sam had surprised him with his words and with his spirit of observation.

Sam had always been a smart little shit, Dean thought fondly as he glanced over at his no longer so little brother, yet through it all, throughout the years, Sam was still by his side.  
Dean had realised long ago that this was all he wanted. Sam, the Impala, the hunt.  
If Sam should decide for something else, he'd support his brother's decision, but Sam had vowed that whatever the future held, he'd never leave him.

They were more than brothers; Ash had said so and Dean believed the mullet haired, computer genius' every word. He and Sam would share a heaven for eternity. He couldn't be happier.

 

"Sammy, that memory you're looking for, maybe I can help you out."  
Sam glanced quizzically at him. "Okay."

"You were five, the cutest little tyke around, puppy eyes already in place and all fired up!" Dean smiled as Sam rolled his eyes.  
" Dad had promised to take us to the Grand Canyon but.."  
"...he didn't, " Sam chimed in. " I remember now. You were pissed and we ended up in the park. You pushed me on the swing and told me that when we were all grown up and had a car we'd go to the Grand Canyon together. How could I have forgotten?" 

"You were only five, dude. Lots of water has passed under the bridge since then. I've always been meaning to take us, but shit has a way of happening and well, I just never got around to it, I guess. Now we've got a hunt right there, so it's time for me to make good on that promise."

 

The Impala sat perched on the edge of the vast panorama, a sight that in its stark beauty uplifted the heart and soul.  
Yeah, there was a hunt involved but as the brothers sat side by side on the hood of the car, the biggest ice creams they could find melting in their hands faster than they could lick at the sweet ambrosia, the Winchesters paid faith to that faraway day in the park and anticipated their future heaven, where they could have anything they wanted and be anywhere they conjured up, but best of all they'd be together.

The end


End file.
